Buy-to-let purchase searches are down 13.67% year-on-year, while remortgage searches have risen by 6.05%, Twenty7tec’s October data reveals.
After a period of strong activity over the past five years – including a peak in September 2022, when BTL made up 21% of all mortgage products – Twenty7tec says landlords appear to be focusing on protecting existing portfolios rather than expanding them.
BTL purchases now make up 33.1% of all landlord searches, which means two-thirds of current activity relates to remortgaging.
Across the broader mortgage market, Twenty7tec reports a record 28,835 products live at the end of October.
This represents the highest ever recorded, which Twenty7tec says signals confidence among lenders even as purchase demand slows ahead of the Autumn Budget.
For first-time buyers, searches have fallen to their weakest point this year at 297,387.
Landlords will also be watching closely for any movement on property taxation, stamp duty thresholds and rental market incentives.
The biggest headline in last year’s Autumn Budget for landlords was an increase to the additional stamp duty rate which is applied to second homes, investment properties and purchases made by corporate investors.
The surcharge rose from 3% to 5%, taking effect from 31 October 2024.
In the months that followed, BTL transactions fell by 9.36% in November compared with the previous month and a further 35.28% in December.
Twenty7tec head of lender relationships Nakita Moss says: “We’re seeing a clear behavioural shift as landlords respond to higher borrowing costs and tighter yields.”
“More landlords are focused on refinancing rather than expanding, taking advantage of stabilising rates to secure long-term certainty. The era of portfolio growth has paused – for now it’s about resilience and risk management.”
The company’s commercial director Nathan Reilly adds: “The figures suggest a market in transition: steady, active, and cautious. Landlords appear to be locking in rates while they can, signalling confidence in the long-term rental market but restraint when it comes to expansion.”
